LeBron James passes Michael Jordan for 9th in all-time playoff assists

One champion has passed another.

LeBron James passed Michael Jordan for ninth on the all-time playoff assists list during Sunday's Game 1 between the Cleveland Cavaliers and Boston Celtics.

James came into Sunday's contest three assists shy of Jordan. James set up J.R. Smith for a 3-pointer to record his 1,023th playoff assist.

It took Jordan 179 postseason appearances to rack up 1,022 assists, good for an average of 5.7 per game. Coming into Sunday's contest, James averaged 6.4 assists per game across 158 playoff games.

James is now within 10 assists of San Antonio Spurs point guard Tony Parker, who sits in eighth. After that, it's Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard Kobe Bryant in seventh.

Both Jordan and James are all-time greats, so jockeying across all-time leaderboards is somewhat trivial. The only tally that truly matters is championships. Jordan leads James 6-2 in that regard.